Narrow escape for workers and public as scaffold collapses

Scaffolding at St Jude’s Church Southsea, near Portsmouth has collapsed during work on redeveloping the site.

One witness said: ‘There were about 20 people working on the site and then all of a sudden it came crashing down, it made a huge noise. It is very lucky nobody was hurt, there was one workman who had to run like hell to get away from it. It all came crashing down into the road, so they are lucky a car wasn’t passing through when it actually happened otherwise it could have been extremely serious.’

The News Portsmouthreports that Farnrise Construction are contracted to redevelop the Church. HSE will be investigating the incident.

Comment: The reports indicate that the cause of the collapse is not known. The design, construction and loading of the scaffold are all be good starting points! HSE has recemtly published a scaffold checklist indicating where scaffolds need to be ‘designed’. The National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) also produce a wide range of publications on scaffold safety.